Drying apparatus.



A. HIRTH.

DRYING APPARATUS, APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24. 1915.

ISHEETS-SHEET I.

A. HIRTH.

DRYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24. 1915.

1,266,946. Patented May 21,1918.

7 SHEETS-SHEE'T 2.

A. HIRTH.

QRYING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24. I915.

Patnted May 21,1918.

7SHEETS-SHEET 3.

LVEVv-roR:

ldL-BERT' l/IRT.

I BY:

A. HIRTH.

DRYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24. 1915.

Patented May 21, 1918.

7SHEETS-SHEET 4.

A. HIRTH.

DRYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24, 1915.

Patented May 21,1918.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 6.

A. HIRTH.

DRYING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24.19l5.

Patentd May 21,1918. YSHEETS-SHEET 1.

DRYING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 21, 1918.

Application filed June 24, 1915. Serial No. 36,108.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT HIRTH, a subj ect of the King of Wurttemberg, residing at Stuttgart-Cannstatt, Germany, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Drying Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

Thread like, ribbon like or tubular articles produced by compression from plastic masses must be dried before being handled for further purposes. To this end it is usual to suspend them from rods or the like and expose them to the action of heat or currents of air.

The object of the present invention is to distribute the compressed strands as uniformly as possible on separate arms 'or rods and to feed the latter forward when loaded. To this end, by way of example, the arms or rods are attached at uniform distances to an endless chain guided over two or more rollers. With one of the chain pulleys or rollers there is connected a device whichvpermits the chain to be moved automatically or by hand for a distance corresponding to the distance between two arms. Over one arm there is mounted a distributing funnel which by suitable swinging motion and to and fro motion along the longitudinal direction of the arms, suspends the uniformly distributed compressed strands on the arm. As soon as one arm is loaded the chain is fed forward and the next arm from which the operator has in the meanwhile removed the dried strands takes its place under the funnel.

One form of the invention is shown, as an example, in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the whole arrangement of the apparatus,

Fig. 2 is a cross section thereof,

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan of the drying stand with the distributing funnel located above the same.

Fig. 4 shows a horizontal section of the driving mechanism of the funnel on a larger scale on the line A B of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 5 shows a vertical section on the line C D of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a plan of a modification in which the link chain passes over three rollers and is arranged in a triangle;

Fig. 7 is a plan of another modification in which the link chain passes over six rollers and is arranged in a hexagon;

Figs. 8 and 8 are elevation and plan respectively showing a modification in which the arms of the carrier revolve around a perpendicular shaft;

'Figs. 9 and 9 are side and end views respectively of a modification in which the arms revolve around a horizontal shaft;

Fig. 10 is a side elevation of an apparatus for driving the chain and carriers and adapted to be put in or out of operation by hand.

Figs. 10 and 10 are sectional views showing different positions of a detail of this apparatus; and

Fig. 10 is a side elevation of Fig. 10.

Fig. 11 is an elevation of a modified form of carrier driving apparatus with automatic disconnecting means.

On the standards 1 (Figs. 1-3) there are mounted two chain wheels 2 and 3 around which a chain 4 is tightened. To the latter are attached arms 5 which serve for supporting the compressed strands. These arms are guided by rollers between the rails 6 and 7. The chain is fed forward by means of the conical wheels 9 and 10 and the hand wheel 11. From the press located at the top the compressed strands are fed through the funnel 12 to the distributing funnel 13, either directly or by some separate feeding means. In the position shown in thedrawings the strand will pass down at the left of the suspension arm 5. But, before it reaches the bottom, the funnel 13 swings to the right and the strand passes down at the right. As soon as the proper length has been reached, the funnel swings to the left again. In the meanwhile however the said funnel has been somewhat displaced in the longitudinal direction of the arm, so that the next strand will be disposed to the side of the one that Was previously suspended. The process goes on until the arm is loaded and then by means of the hand wheel 11 the succeeding empty arm is moved below the funnel and the operation is repeated.

The mechanism which drives the funnel is clearly illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5.

By means of the grooved disk 15 which is set in slow rotation by the pulley 14 (Fig. 1) and in whose groove the roller 16 runs, the lever 18 which rotates around the fixed pin 17 is given, by jumps up and down, a reciprocating movement which, by the rod 19 is communicated to the lever 21 which pivots on the shaft 20. This lever carries two pawls 22 and 28 which engage in the ratchet wheels 24 and 25. By this engagement, during the upward movement of the lever 21,

the ratchet wheel 25 will be turned to the left the space of one tooth and whensthe lever goes downward the ratchet wheel will be turned to the right for the same distance. The ratchet wheel 25 is connected with a bevel gear 26 which engages with the smaller This causes the lever 30 to swing and at the same time it causes the funnel 13 which turns around the shaft 32 to swing from one of the extreme oblique positions to the other.

.The second ratchet disk 24: is rigidly connected to the crank disk 33 by the shaft 20 and communicates the rotation by increments to the disk, the rotation of which, by means of the connecting rod 3% intermittently displaces the funnel 13, in the direction of the shaft 32.

In the position as illustrated the operation of the mechanism is as follows: The levers 1S and 21 move slightly downward as the point 35 of the cam path passes the roller 17, the ratchet wheel 24 and crank disk 33 are turned toward the right and the funnel is displaced slightly to the right. The levers move upward as the point 36 of the cam path passes the roller, and the ratchet wheel 25 turns to the left and thereby brings the funnel in its other oblique position, and so on.. Thus the hanging of the strands on the arms is accomplished.

As a modification of the illustrated apparatus, the link chain may be arranged over three rollers 3 disposed in a triangle (Fig.

6) or over. any number of rollers 3 disposed in any polygon (Fig. 7) s; or the arms 5 may be arranged upon the periphery of a wheel 4 (Fig. 8) turning around a vertical or practically vertical axle 3 Furthermore the rods 5 may be. carried by a disk or by arms 4: (Fig. 9) and be arranged in such a manner that the carrying arms or rods lie parallel with the axle 3 that drives the disk. Instead of the hand wheel 11 there may be provided some driving mechanism that works automatically, or partly'autov matically, or the shaft of either of the conical wheels 10 or 9 may be thus driven automatically by an axle of the mechanism that drives the funnel 13 that the stepwise movement of the carrying arms is produced.

Such devices are shown'in FigsQlO and 11. In'Fig. 10,51 is the shaft which carries the conical wheel is and upon which is mounted a box l6. The beltpulley l5may.

45 may be coupled with-the box 46 by means .of therotatable round key 48. That round key 4.8 is mounted rotatably in the collar of the box 46 and at the other end it is held in position by the adjusting ring 52. Half of this key lies in-the periphery of the box and longitudinally therewith is cut away so far that it is flush therewith as shown in Fig. 10 l/Vhenturned in the position shown in Fig. 10 however, it enters into one of the semi-circular recesses 47 in'the bore of the belt pulley and couples the same with the box 26.

The turning of the key is effected as follows p The key 18 is made of one piece with the lever 19. When this lever rests upon the catch 50 as shown, the key will be in the position illustrated in Fig. 10 and the shaft is not coupled. When however the catch is brought into the dotted line position the lever 4:9 is released and forced downward by the spring 56. This will bring the key 48 in the position shown in Fig. 10 and the shaft 51 will be coupled. When the catch is returned to the original position, the lever is will rest thereon again and will be pressed backward while spring 56 is tightened. This will cause the key to return to its original position and the shaft to be uncoupled. If the catch 50 is bent for a short time only and immediately thereafter returned to its original position, shaft 51 will accomplish only one revolution. The transmission between the wheels 7: and 2' and the distance between the arms 6 is determined in such a manner that each time the shaft 51 has accomplished one complete revolution, the following arm is carried under the feedingfunnel n. The catch 50 is operated by hand through a handlever 545a weight 55 always pulls back that catch into the uncoupling position. The catch 50, the hand lever 34%- and the lever 57 carrying the weight 55 are all keyed upon a common shaft 53.

In the modified construction shownin Fig. 11, the operation of the catch 60'is not effected by hand but automatically after-a certain number ofmovements of the feeding funnel. In this construction thereis moreover keyed upon the shaft 63 a cam lever 68 which is lifted once for ashort time, by acam 7 0 of the cam disk 69 each time the latter makes one revolution and is then released again, which each time causes one revolution of the shaft 61 and an advance of the arms 6. o

The cam disk 69 is connected E with a ratchet wheel 71, which by a pawl 72, shown I inthis form of constr'uctionasbeinglinked The articles as they are produced may be suspended in long strands or may be cut in shorter strands by some suitably located cutting device so that the single strands will rest upon the arms with their center part and fall down at both sides in even length.

I claim as my invention 1. In an apparatus for suspending and drying strands of material, the combination of a plurality of arms; means for feeding strands to the arms; and means for presenting said feeding means back and forth several times to alternate sides of each arm.

2. In an apparatus for suspending and drying strands of material, the combination of a plurality of arms; means for feeding strands to the arms; and means for presenting said feeding means to alternate sides of each arm and displacing it lengthwise of such arm.

3. In an apparatus for suspending and drying strands of material, the combination of a plurality of arms; means for feeding strands to the arms; and means for presenting said feeding means to alternate sides of each arm and displacing it lengthwise of such arm between each of said alternations.

4:. In an apparatus for suspending and drying strands of material, the combination of an arm; means for feeding strands to the arm; and means for alternately presenting the feeding means to each side of the arm.

5. In an apparatus for suspending and drying strands of material, the combination of an arm; means for feeding strands to the arm; and means for alternately presenting the feeding means to each side of the arm said crank disks step-by-step; means operatively connecting one crank disk with the funnel for presenting it alternately to opposite sides of each arm; means operatively connecting the funnel to the other crank disk for displacing the funnel longitudinally of such arm between each alternation from one side to the other.

7. In an apparatus for suspending and drying strands of material, the combination of a feeding funnel; a plurality of arms; means for causing said funnel to be presented to said arms successively; a pair of crank disks; cam operated means for separately rotating said crank disks step-bystep; means operatively connecting one crank disk with the funnel for presenting it alternately to opposite sides of each arm; means operatively connecting the funnel to the other crank disk for displacing the funnel longitudinally of such arm between each alternation from one side to the other.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALBERT HIRTH.

Witnesses:

FRIDA KLAIBER, E. SGHLEISHER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of IPatents, Washington, D. G. 

